Back Room Bookstore Cozy Mystery Boxed Set: Books 1 - 12

by Susan Harper

  3

  Monica, Mona, Isaac, Holly, and Brian sat down with Naven and Grace at a table a short distance away from their teams, who were still rowdy with excitement after the day’s events. Grace was smiling ear to ear. She really did look exactly like Holly down to every facial expression and freckle. She was dressed in a very Russian-style dress that had bits of fur about her neck.

  “You know about me?” Holly asked.

  “Mother,” Grace said. “Oh, she would talk about you so much!”

  “Would?” Holly repeated, looking very sad.

  Grace sighed and leaned back in her seat for a moment. “She passed away a few years ago, I’m afraid. Got herself nipped by a poisonous dragon while we were on holiday, and we were unable to make it to a potions shop in time for a remedy. Bless her. All she ever wanted to do was find you.”

  Holly lowered her head sadly for a moment, but Monica could tell she wasn’t going to let this deter her. She had found her sister. Holly sat upright after a moment and returned Grace’s wild smile. “This is incredible. You have no idea. I’ve been looking for you and our mom. What are the chances we would run into each other at a pub?”

  “I am most sorry,” Naven said, still looking very embarrassed. “I knew Grace vas an Ibeji, but last I haf been informed, she vas living in ze mortal vorld in a place called America. I did not think.”

  “Honest mistake, Naven,” Holly said, blushing a bit. She turned back to Grace. “Did you grow up here?”

  “No,” she said. “Druidson.”

  “That’s the border town for Salem,” Monica said.

  “Very friendly little town,” Grace said. “I met Naven here about two years ago when his team played against the Druidson Druids. Mother had passed away around that time. He was very sweet to me. Last year, I quit my old job and have been following his team during the season.”

  “What were you doing?” Holly asked.

  “I’m a wandmaker,” Grace said and then laughed. “Rather odd job for an Ibeji.”

  “Why is that?” Holly asked.

  Grace stared at her for a moment. “Oh…” she said. “That’s right, you grew up not knowing! Forgive me, sister.” She smiled at her and reached across the table, taking her hand. “You must not know what you can do at all, do you? Ibeji don’t need wands for magic. We’re probably the last of our kind, aren’t we?”

  “No, actually,” Holly said and squeezed her sister’s hand. “We have a little sister.”

  Grace’s eyes sparkled. “We… Oh! I had no idea! Oh, gracious!” She clasped her hands together. “What are her names?”

  Isaac looked rather confused by this question, but his brain seemed to process it as Holly told her. “Anniston and Angel,” Holly said. “Anniston accidentally killed Angel last year, so it’s just Anniston now.”

  “Oh, pooh! She didn’t make it into adulthood to fully mature, then?” Grace asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” Holly said.

  “She’ll still be a rather powerful witch, though,” Grace said. “Good. Oh, I must meet her! I wonder if Mother knew about her?”

  “I believe so,” Holly said. “Our dad—”

  “Oh!” Grace exclaimed again, letting go of Holly’s hand and clasping her hands into an excited clap. “You must know him, of course! Our father! I’ve been wanting to meet him for so long, but Mother never even told me the poor man’s name. I had given up on ever finding him. I did hope to find you one day, though.”

  “Jonathan,” Holly said, and Grace beamed.

  “Jonathan,” she said happily. “Handsome name.”

  “He’s amazing,” Holly said. “I’ve only just met him myself.”

  This confused Grace. “But Mother said—”

  “He put me up for adoption,” Holly said. “He was just a kid when we were born. I was raised entirely by mortals, but he has been looking for us both for a long time. He’s married to the nicest woman ever. You’ll love her. She’s a witch too, like our mom.”

  “I must meet them,” Grace said. “And what of your adopted family?”

  “I’m filing for a reveal license now, actually,” Holly said. “I’m hoping it will get approved so that I can tell my folks about the mystic world, but they’re still processing my request. They’ve met my dad, but of course he didn’t tell them he was part-immortal or any of that.”

  “I want to meet them too!” Grace said. “The people who raised my sister… I’ve actually never met a mortal, would you believe that?”

  Isaac cleared his throat. “Well, now you’ve met two.”

  “Yeah,” Brian said with a smirk. “And it’s a pleasure, Ms. Grace.”

  Grace grinned. “What are the odds of running into one another here? Honestly!” She suddenly jumped up. “Let’s go outside! I can show you some tricks!” She practically yanked Holly out of her seat.

  Naven smiled. “She is very high energy vhen she is excited.”

  They hurried outside. Brian rubbed his fingers together. It was dark out now, and it was incredibly cold in Slovack at night, even in the summer. “Oh, what should I show you? Can you do anything magical yet?” Grace asked. “If you’ve only just recently learned you are a fully matured Ibeji…”

  “Well, er…” Holly said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I can do this.” She held her hands out, wiggled her fingers, and Monica could see a bit of purple magic erupting from her fingertips. “Not really sure how to do anything else.”

  “I’ll show you something easy, then,” Grace said, contemplating for a moment. She seemed to have gotten an idea because she jumped up excitedly and bent down in the grass, digging around for a bit. She eventually found some sort of seed. “Watch,” she said, closing it tightly in her hands. She rubbed it in her hands and blew on it. When she opened her palm again, a small bit of greenery had already started to grow.

  “Whoa!” Mona yelped. Mona, a natural witch with more magic than she knew what to do with, could not possibly do something like that so easily, even with a wand.

  Grace placed the small bit of green to the ground. “Step back,” she told them. She held out both hands, a bit of purple magic sparking from her fingertips. She blew her breath, and a bit of the purple magic erupted from her throat. The thing sprouted up and burrowed its roots into the ground. Within seconds, an enormous oak now stood before them.

  Monica’s mouth gaped open. “That’s incredible.”

  “Lenore would be having a fit right now,” Mona said, referring to her raven familiar. “I should have brought her along.”

  “You tink zat is incredible?” Naven asked.

  Grace giggled shyly. She kicked off the ground and floated several feet in the air, hovering like it was nothing. She smiled and did a slow somersault before landing gently on the ground. As she stepped with each foot, a few flowers sprouted behind her. “You can do so much, you have no idea,” Grace told Holly. “And I would be happy to teach you, my sister!”

  “Would Anniston be able to do stuff like this?” Mona asked.

  “A bit, I’m sure,” Grace said. “Though probably not with as much ease. From what I understand, Ibeji who are not fully matured have most of the same power, but it is much more difficult for them.”

  “If I knew I could fly, I wouldn’t have bought that training broom,” Holly said with a smirk in Monica’s direction.

  Monica laughed as well, and they all stood around watching Grace as she attempted to teach Holly how to float. She said it was mostly about freeing her mind into simply believing that she could do it and not so much about concentrating. “All you have to do, Holly, is think about what you want to do and simply do it,” Grace told her.

  Monica noticed Isaac standing a bit off from everyone else, so she took a few steps back to join him. “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Isaac said. “Just… Don’t you think it’s weird that we just happened upon her like this?”

  “It’s a smaller world than we realize,” Monica said. />
  “I don’t know… Something just doesn’t feel right, I guess,” he said.

  “I think you’re being paranoid,” Monica said. “Look at her. It’s clearly her sister. What do you think could be going on?”

  Holly was currently inviting Grace to come stay with her in Bankstown sometime. “I don’t know,” Isaac said. “Maybe I am just being paranoid.”

  “Naven, we simply must go to Wysteria and Bankstown!” Grace was saying, shaking Naven wildly just as Holly started floating a few feet from the ground.

  Holly shrieked. “Oh my gosh, I can freaking fly!”

  Brian and Mona were both laughing as the Wysteria Werewolves started making their way out of the pub. “Was that tree there when we got here?” Bolt muttered.

  Holly fell back to the ground, grinning.

  “I do not see vhy ve cannot,” Naven said and then muttered, slightly bitterly, “Ve did just lose, so it is not like ve hav another game to prepare for soon.”

  Brian smirked at him. “Sorry, Naven.”

  “No, you Verewolves earned it,” he said. “It vas an incredible game. Vhen vould you vant to go visit? Ve vill go together. I vould love to meet your family as vell.”

  “The sooner the better,” Grace said.

  “I’ll tell Dad to bring his family to Bankstown next weekend,” Holly said. “They live a little further away, but I’ve got a cabin that they all come and stay at a lot. There’s plenty of room, and you can stay with us.”

  “Oh, no,” Grace said. “We don’t want to intrude. Plus, I have never been to the mortal world. I do not know about staying there overnight so soon. Naven and I will stay at an inn in Wysteria. I hope you don’t find that offensive?”

  “No, that’s fine,” Holly said. “Whatever makes you more comfortable.”

  “This is very exciting,” Grace said. “Won’t this be fun, Naven? Have you ever been to the mortal side?”

  “Once or tvice, yes,” he said. “In Russia.”

  “So let’s plan for next weekend?” Grace asked with puppy-dog eyes staring up at him.

  He smiled. “Anything for you, Grace. Like I said, ve do not exactly hav much going on now, do ve?”

  “What’s going on?” Deimus asked as they approached. “You and your doppelganger planning a weekend?”

  Holly laughed. “She and Naven are going to come visit Wysteria and Bankstown next weekend. I hope you plan on staying longer than a weekend?”

  “Of course,” Grace said excitedly.

  “Awesome,” Deimus said, then smiled at Naven. “You can come check out our Romp-A-Roo field while you’re there.”

  “I can give you some pointers,” Naven said. “I hav played ze team you vill be going up against many times.”

  “Excellent!” Coach Joanne-Jo exclaimed as she flew past Deimus’s ear. “You and I, dear, are going to be very good friends.”

  Naven laughed nervously at the sprite woman. “Vhatever you say.”

  Monica smiled brightly. It had been a wonderful day from start to finish. Isaac had gotten his first trip to the mystical world, they had traveled cross-continents for the semi-finals and won, and now Holly had found her long-lost Ibeji twin. A part of her wanted to share all this exciting news with Abigail, but she brushed the thought away. She still wasn’t ready to talk to her just yet.

  4

  The following week went by incredibly slowly as they looked ahead to the arrival of Holly’s sister. Monica and Holly spent their Friday evening welcoming Holly’s father and his family into town. They lived rather far off in a city suburb, but they had purchased the cabin that rested behind Monica’s cottage. Holly had been living there ever since, and she took care of the property for her biological father, Jonathan. The family would be arriving in town soon, so they were adding some last-minute touch-ups to the place. Holly had been meaning to add curtains, so the two of them were currently working on that endeavor in the cabin’s little kitchen.

  “I’m really excited about this weekend,” Holly told her, staring up at the clock on the wall. “Dad and his family should be here soon.”

  There was a knock on the door. Monica had half-expected it to be Jonathan and his family, but instead there was an unfamiliar couple along with a third man who was attempting to usher a couple of children up the porch of the cabin. “Um…” the woman said, staring. “Is Holly here?”

  “Uh…” Monica responded.

  “Mom! Dad!” Holly exclaimed, and Monica opened the door wider.

  Monica had never actually met Holly’s adopted parents, which was rather odd considering that they were the ones who actually lived in Bankstown. Monica stepped aside, and the whole lot of them came fumbling into the house. “Oh, you must be Monica!” the woman exclaimed, looking a bit embarrassed. The man and woman looked absolutely nothing like Holly—much lighter complexions with brighter eyes and hair so blonde, Monica swore it would glow in the dark. They had wide smiles, and the woman practically threw her arms around Monica. “Holly has told us so much about you. You helped her find her birth father, yes?”

  Monica smiled. “That’s right.”

  “I’m George, Holly’s dad,” the man said. “And this is Bonnie, her mom.”

  The third wheel of the group was just crossing over the threshold, practically dragging the two children in with him as they moaned about wanting to play outside. “Monica, this is my dad’s brother, Uncle Kyle, and my little cousins. That’s Mark and Mattie.”

  Mattie, the older of the two, had her blonde hair pulled up in a sloppy ponytail. She was giggling terribly. “You are so cute,” Monica told her, and she grinned wildly. “So I’m guessing you’re all here to meet Grace too?”

  “That’s right,” Bonnie said, clapping her hands together. “I had no idea Holly had a twin sister! It’s all very exciting.”

  “And you’ve all already met Jonathan and his family?” Monica asked, unsure.

  “Oh, yes,” George said. “Real friendly guy. Honestly, I was a little nervous about meeting Holly’s birth father. I mean, I’ve been her dad her whole life, you know? But we got along real well. Jonathan on his way, honey?”

  “Yeah, he’ll be here soon,” Holly said. “I think he’s just bringing Norah and Anniston. Uncle Roczen and Uncle Weston and his wife weren’t going to be able to make it.”

  “Well, I’m glad your stepmother and sister are going to be able to come,” Bonnie said. “This is all very exciting. Can’t believe what sort of year it’s been. Finding your birth dad and learning you had all these sisters. It’s incredible. Anniston is just a little sweetheart.”

  “Little odd,” Uncle Kyle said. “The way she always carries that doll around. Little old for it.”

  “Shut up, Kyle,” George said. “She’s sweet.”

  There was another knock on the door, and Holly hurried to answer it. There was Grace, Naven, and Isaac. Isaac had waited for them at the shop so he could escort them to Holly’s cabin. Grace smiled wildly as she hurried inside, throwing her arms around Holly for a quick hug. “Good to see you again, Holly!”

  “Grace, you’ve got to meet my adopted family,” Holly said, dragging Grace into the house.

  Monica stood with Isaac in the doorway, smiling at him. “So, want to help me get the grill set up?” Monica asked and then whispered. “I can’t use magic to do it with Holly’s adopted family here, so I could use some assistance.”

  Isaac smirked, and the two of them headed outside together where he helped prep the grill. The plan was for them all to cook out and have a sort of family social. Monica was glad that she had been invited to tag along. She loved Holly’s biological family, and she had been wanting to meet her adopted parents for the longest time. Slowly, the family started making their way outside, though she could hear a bit of bickering.

  “I did not mean disrespect,” Naven was saying.

  “Yeah, okay,” Bonnie replied, walking ahead of him and out of the door like she was trying to put as much distance between them as possible.


  “What happened?” Monica asked as Bonnie walked by them.

  “Comparing me to Holly and Grace’s birth mother,” Bonnie snarled. “And from what I understand, he never even met the woman. Just what Grace has told him. Rude, honestly. A rather negative comparison, might I add! Well, forget it. What can I do to help?”

  They started dividing up tasks for dinner preparations, though there was a bit of tension now. Holly looked a bit uncomfortable that her sister’s boyfriend had struck a nerve with her mom, but the tension settled greatly when Jonathan at last arrived with his wife Norah and with Holly’s half-sister Anniston.

  Anniston came hurrying up to Holly and Grace with the biggest grin. “So amazing to meet you!” she said to Grace. Monica knew Anniston wanted to ask Grace a bunch of questions about being a fully-matured Ibeji who, unlike Holly, actually knew how to use her abilities, but Anniston had obviously been warned by her parents that Holly’s adopted parents were not aware of the mystic world, so topics of magic were off-limits.

  Soon Naven and Bonnie’s brief tiff was forgotten, and everyone was having fun out on the lawn prepping burgers and getting to know Grace and Naven. They asked questions about Grace and Holly’s late mother, and Grace shared a handful of non-magic stories for the family. Bonnie and Norah got along fabulously, Monica noted. As it grew a bit later, Brian showed up after work, bringing some wine for the occasion.

  The little party was really underway, but soon, Holly’s niece and nephew fell asleep on the couch. Anniston was also starting to look rather tired, but it seemed she was far too excited getting to know her other sister to even think about sleep. Monica was working on cutting up a cake she and Holly had prepared for the occasion in the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. As Holly was busy talking with Grace, she slipped out of the kitchen to answer the door.

  It was dark out now, and Monica almost didn’t see the young girl standing on the front porch. It was a little girl around twelve years old, and she was wearing an odd period dress that reminded Monica greatly of their time in Boston back in the 1690s. “Um…” Monica said, glancing over her shoulder. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her, assuming this was some sort of magical misadventure that Holly’s adopted family couldn’t know about. “Hello, little one,” Monica said to the little girl with the button nose and big, pretty eyes. “Are you, er…lost?”